are you one of the millions of people flying over the holidays get ready to be frisked in felt up by the airport security but that is the t.s.a. really keeping you safe or is this government agency only worried about securing their own jobs. in the wake of the connecticut school massacre there's been a lot of debate in this country about how to prevent a similar tragedy from happening in the future when putting armed police or members of the military in schools be a solution we'll take a look at some of the ideas being tossed around in a moment. and don't look now but it appears the u.s. is headed off the fiscal cliff after talks broke down last night congress is headed

home for christmas vacation so tonight it will shine a light on the one hundred twelfth congress one that's being called the worst ever . it's friday december twenty first five pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you're watching our t.v. . well it's that time of the year again time to wrap up the christmas gifts have someone sit on the suitcase so you can get it closed and head to the airport to wait and never ending security lines but two new developments are coming out of the transportation administration this month first up a new government report has painted the agency in a less than favorable light leading some like the washington times to go as far as to say that the t.s.a. is main concern isn't safety but self preservation now the crux of the argument is that the t.s.a. continually refuses to allow airports to hire private security screeners in order

to move people through their own lines quicker also out this month the administration has agreed to contract the national. act of sorry excuse me the national academy of sciences to study the public health effects on x. ray scanners and what they do to patients are passengers that is security so senator susan collins and others want to know if the radiation emitted by these machines could cause cancer to break this down and all this information that's coming out feigenbaum transportation policy analyst at the reason foundation. first things first did the findings really surprise you in this report. hi megan well first of all thanks thanks for having me on basically i would say not i think this is not what most passengers expected from the t.s.a. and i don't think that a lot of people are probably all that surprised i will say that when we look at the contract you know the airport screenings what happened there is in early two thousand and eleven john pistole who is the head of the t.s.a.

had gone ahead and announced that he didn't see any advantage to contracting the screening he actually thought that the government government could do a better job in the t.s.a. screeners were five in so that basically put an end to all of contracted screening for a while now thankfully earlier this year when congress passed the latest f.a.a. federal aviation administration bill that was actually changed and so they can resume screening cut private screening but it's still quite challenging to get it accomplished so what's this here say of being a fourth private employers in airports wanting to hire private private security screeners. it's it's really hard to figure out i would say it's probably more political you have certain union issues you have other issues in terms of control then really anything based on analytics if you look at the reports the private screening is actually typically cheaper than the government and even the f.a.a. i think the government had its own report that said it was three percent higher but

i believe o.m.b. or g.a.o. one of the federal agencies did a report and basically said that was incorrect it's actually cheaper so from a cost benefit there's really there's really no issue and we know that the screening is better we know that the federal screeners have actually had problems detecting bombs detecting other things and of course it seems like every time you're in an airport there's another issue with them doing something improper to passengers that are on those airplanes and we do know that they one of the things that private employers to say is that they it they've private employees would be held to higher standards but as you just mentioned it might not necessarily be about cost is it fair to say that it's more about competition or is it about competition i think it is i think it's about competition and i think it's about one other thing how it's structured right now you have the t.s.a. is basically the ones making the guidelines about the screening in the ones actually doing the screening so it's kind of like they're serving as

a judicial agency and a legislative agency at the same time and it's really a con a conflict of interest if they simply made the rules and had someone else follow them that would be to me a much better procedure and in addition to having competition which i think is necessary you'd actually have two different two different entities so perhaps a better screening process as well are and this report makes the san seem as if the t.s.a. is more concerned with the self than with the airport security can you think of any policies that would or refute that argument well. based on the based on the research that i've seen i really can't i actually did a piece for in terms of the atlanta hartsfield jackson airport which is the largest passenger airport in the world and basically a lot of the comments i get back were things things that really had nothing to do with it so from a factual viewpoint again unless you're talking talking about certain union issues talking about control issues there's no factual reason why these private

contractors are not better do you think it would allow for more things to slip through the cracks having competition having some people and some organizations screening people this way and others that spring people this way with this machine . i don't because i think if there are already guidelines for how screening should be conducted and i think we can improve those guidelines and make them firmer basically what the t.s.a. would still be in charge of is they would still be in charge of reviewing the screening and making sure that the companies that have carried them out or curing the map scuse me are still living up to the standards and what specified in assuming they're doing that which which is what they do now in these private airports in places like san francisco that have this privatized training there really shouldn't be an issue because you've got a multiple check you've got an entity carrying out the screening and then another entity making sure that the screening is actually being conducted correctly or it's let's talk now about these x. ray machines the government spent millions upon millions of dollars on these machines despite an outcry from privacy advocates i mean are these machines any

better at what what their job is or could they actually cause cancer as some are are trying to figure out. you know we really don't know most of the evidence we've seen seems to lean away from them causing cancer but obviously the fact that they're studying them again indicates the fact there is still that possibility and obviously even if it's a small possibility that's not a very comforting thought especially to frequent travelers i would also say that it's more of a type of the problem with how they're doing the security you can get all of these great machines but basically the problem with the airports is backed security meaning fences waterways people getting items that are prohibited on to the plane that way slipping them across to people who are loading the food service the problem is not necessarily people taking liquids through security but we've really addressed that so much that i think these other issues are more important and so

the screen machines i don't think they're necessary and i if they cost a lot of money i really don't think they're cost effective solution one other thing i want to ask you about is that the f.d.a. johns hopkins medical school and the army public health command have already done these these surveys these studies and they found that the levels of radiation were within the allowed range so can we really expect me the findings of this study to be any different. i don't think so i think the the findings of the radiation probably are in the allowed range and the only exception would be if if you literally traveled every day and there's very few people like that and even there i think they're ok but i think the greater the greater issue than the health concerns is just is this the best way to do security if you're going to spend this amount of money what could you do and clearly to me you could be doing a lot better than this current system and we only have about a minute left but your transportation policy analyst when you're traveling what kind of secrets do you have then you can give to our travelers watching the show

for them to get through security lines quicker or better. sure basically i do a couple things the first one is i make sure that i have all my change he swallowed all that stuff they know they're going to look for i'm taken out and i go ahead and put that into the bin the second thing is they always like it when you put if you have a laptop computer you put that separately from your actual travel bag other things that you might be taking in a carry on and i try to avoid carry ons just because it seems it's more of a pain now obviously when you do that for most airlines you have to pay the twenty five dollars whatever the fee is to check the baggage but i try to make it is minimal risk is possible even though up ideally i don't think that's the ideal solution but i think that's the way to approach it right now so bottom line travel light. test for patient policy analyst at the reason foundation that you so much for joining us thanks again for having me. well it's been exactly one week since twenty children and six teachers were shot in cold blood at sandy hook elementary

school as we reported this week gun control is on the front of everyone's minds but new legislation has a takes time and americans want answers on how to keep their children safe right now and her bulletproof backpacks it's not a new concept but it's certainly earning a lot of attention these days company like bullet blocker and amendment two and the like have sold a lot of backpacks in the wake of the sandy hook tragedy and they're reporting some of them are actually reporting a five hundred percent increase in sales meanwhile democratic senator barbara boxer wants to the national guard troops to be present at schools to increase security she modified her legislation after a previous law that boosted security on the us mexico border to deal with drug cartel violence so is this what is coming to strapping bulletproof backpacks on to students and stationing troops around schools for some answers i'm joined now by

r.t. correspondent ramon the lindo he's in our l.a. studio haidara mona what's going on here i mean what exactly is senator boxer promoting. well her save our schools act would allow governors of each state in the nation to deploy national guard troops to schools to help law enforcement in what she calls to ensure the safety of the schools now in proposing this she hasn't ruled out actually having national guards troops there in in front of the schools guarding the entrances however she has suggested that these national guard troops might be used to help police and paperwork and to build a safety infrastructure around school campuses in this would have to be paid for by the states and eventually under boxer proposal the federal government will reimburse the states through through spending which has already been authorized for

the defense budget so president obama has called for meaningful action time and time again when he has these speeches i'm assuming this in of all approve backpacks on exactly what he had in mind. well from what we've seen this week he obviously appointed joe biden to spearhead of this effort now joe biden has been a vocal advocate for. gun control but we have to remember that when president obama said that we must be to do something he mentioned the culture of violence that we have in this society now a lot of people that we talked to today educators community advocates advocates don't really see putting more troops or more police more weapons on campus is going to do anything to really change that culture so it's ramon let me ask you this i mean are we putting band-aids on an issue because we don't want to have a real discussion about gun control in this country. well the fact of the matter is that while many of these political leaders may have good intentions when it comes to you know keeping our students safe obviously many of them parents themselves you

know being touched by this tragedy we have to remember that many of these political leaders are only in office for two four six years and don't really have a lot of time to address these big picture issues in the historically here in the u.s. these very tough law and order measures so flawed law and order proposals have been winners for them politically so when you say you know let's ban guns or let's put more police in our schools especially at a time like this when so many people are worried about their children's safety it seems like those are easier solutions to much larger issues in society and ramon i do want to play a sound bite from you that was made at the n.r.a. announcement today they had a speech it was the first time that they've come out and publicly spoke since the sandy hook shooting so i want to play the sound bite and then get your reaction from it i call on congress today to act immediately to

appropriate what every is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation and to do it now to make sure that blanket safety is in place when our kids return to school in january so you have some harsh talk there but then we have things like this this is a chart of all the gun violence that has happened in two thousand and twelve that's just a few of them that's not anything like that there was another shooting today so the mona i mean we're hearing from the n.r.a. this is the first time that they've said we need to do something we need to protect our students you know and then on the other hand we have the fact is that this is happening so it's militarizing our schools really the best and only option at this point. first of all you have to remember that i mean when a plan to put a police officer on every single campus in the united states many would argue is

not even feasible i mean the costs of of hiring so many police officers and you have to remember that i mean you have to arm the these police officers though that just makes more money for the gun industry so and many of the educators who we spoke to today many activists say that this really isn't the solution as i mentioned earlier i mean it continues to promote a culture of gun violence and it continues to really ignore other issues that are happening at schools and other sandy the sandy hook shooting happened at the school and teachers way spoke to today say that some other students are you know looking up how to buy a gun looking up the history of school shootings themselves and many of these teachers are really concerned that the threat is really from within because they they don't have enough resources to discipline their students they don't have mental health professionals or just health professionals period at these schools so

ramona our community members and educators angry about this proposal to militarize our schools and campuses what are you hearing in los angeles. absolutely you tonight there will be a vigil to remember victims of violence around the world especially the victims at sandy hook school but the vigils also here to speak out against first of all the controversial proposal from senator boxer to potentially put national guards troops at school plus the controversial proposal put forth by the city of los angeles now here in los angeles every high school has a campus cop now the city is proposing to have city police officers go and visit elementary schools and middle schools every single day just to do a check up now this also has raised a lot of questions about how much will this truly cost and at the end of this announcement the mayor of los angeles really made the good point that while that

most of the schools around los angeles already have very good security and children are much safer inside of those schools then in the surrounding communities because the violence and the poverty that is pervasive around them really hasn't stopped so far and ramon will have about thirty seconds left but can you quickly walk us through how people are profiting off of the sandy hook tragedy well yeah just in time for christmas you can get a bulletproof vest for your five year old just five hundred bucks on line i mean you mentioned earlier in the intro these bulletproof backpacks they cannot be weighing backpacks all the time but we've seen this before you know after nine eleven there were profiteers security analysts saying that you need to buy this you need to buy that to keep yourself safe so it's not surprising that in the light of a national tragedy we see these people who are really taking advantage of people's fears our to correspondent or mongol and oh thank you you bet. well it's official

we survive the so-called end of the world that is the mayan calendar is an end but while we might have avoided the fireballs and the earthquakes the u.s. is still barreling toward economic calamity with relentless fiscal cliff talks and things didn't improve much last night in fact talks moved back to square one republican speaker of the house john boehner pulled his plan b. bill from the house floor after failing to garner enough votes from his own party to pass it now three months ago to this day i sat at this desk and talked about the numerous bills that congress still needed to pass before the end of the year so let's check up on our politicians progress first up a bill to avoid the proverbial fiscal cliff stopping sequester ation and preventing what is essentially a congress mandated recession. as we know from last night the negotiations have sucked up so much time and effort but they remain up in the air and what about the national defense authorization act to fund our troops for the next year not yet the

house of representatives approved the final version of the bill yesterday but it is still theirs it still must pass through the senate floor before ending up on the president's desk as for the farm bill which will support things like crop subsidies not even close many say this bill is tied up with the fiscal cliff talks because its budget is on the chopping block the reform bill to overhaul the cash strapped u.s. postal service a big fat no they actually posted a fifteen point nine billion dollars loss for the two thousand and twelve fiscal year so how about the violence against women act you know with the foreign intelligence service act also know that it could be pushed through the cap through capitol hill without any discussion about its potential privacy concerns so information like this grades like that have been one person after another calling this the do nothing congress and as our chief political correspondent christine for

discovered this problem is actually getting worse. inside the chambers of this powerful dome some of the most important laws of the land have been drawn up debated and eventually etched into the framework of american history by mars after the half past of the measure the civil rights act of one hundred sixty four is signed at the white house by president john but these days the chambers often look like this. that's because in the two years the one hundred twelfth congress has been in session they've been to work in washington less than a third of the time here's a breakdown according to the library of congress is thomas dot gov the u.s. house of representatives spent just one hundred seventy five days in session last year just one hundred thirty days this year the senate this year also did legislative work just over one hundred days the entire year according to many members that's because they're busy working back in their districts when i go home

. go home to work. the people who say you're not working you're campaigning because i don't think i'm campaigning when i'm in my office meeting with elected officials from throughout but many point fingers at the other side saying it's their fault nothing gets done if people say this is a do nothing congress i think the house republican leadership has to look themselves in the eye and ask why do they keep asking that the president's idea of a negotiation is roll over and do what i asked and got seven weeks between election day and the end of the year and three of those wait weeks have been wasted with this not according to roll call during the first session of the one hundred twelfth congress the house and senate each passed the fewest number of bills in any congress since at least one hundred forty seven when lawmaking activity first started being recorded congress can't even pass bills that are generally passed

annually the farm bill which expired september thirtieth has yet to be renewed or extended and there's been some action though in the u.s. house more than sixty bills to rename post offices were introduced members also voted more than thirty times to repeal the affordable care act all the while knowing it would neither be passed by the senate nor signed by the president in the senate seventeen bill that likely would have passed didn't due to the use. of filibustering according to the washington post possession is scheduled to close on january third two thousand and thirteen and yet again another important vote is being left until the last minute of the so-called fiscal cliff might not be the history making decision people talk about for decades but the process may well be the legacy of the one hundred twelfth congress of putting politics above people and having both sides come up short in the end in washington christine for is our party

her its let's talk now about hospitals and more specifically medical bills occupy wall street's brainchild the rolling jubilee has now raised enough money to retire over nine million dollars in medical debt the movement has now raised over for four hundred fifty thousand dollars and counting it's buying up people's debt for pennies on the dollar and then simply forgetting it the rolling jubilee launched a little over a month ago with the goal of restarting the conversation about debt in this country so to talk more about the progress of the movement and what it's done over the last five weeks i was joined by an larson from the strike that campaign i first asked her how things went with the mailing party where they sent out letters informing a few lucky people that their medical debt was paid off in full. well first of all hi megan and jubilation happy holidays from the strike campaign yes we've raised almost a half a million dollars to abolish almost ten million dollars in medical debt and

our first buy has been completed we started small we use five thousand dollars from the fund and we purchased just over one hundred thousand dollars in medical debt so as you can see on the secondary market debt is bought and sold very cheaply and we just abolished that debt it's it cannot be collected on and also last week we had a party and we created packages for the debtors whose debt has been abolished and we're in the process of letting them know what's happened sending them a letter sending them a copy of the debt resisters operations manual which is one of the other initiatives a strike debt and letting another off the hook and how many people are you actually able to send letters to at this point are our last at the at the letter writing party we wrote a forty four debtors and told them that the medical debt that they owed debt that they got into because they did nothing but get sick and couldn't pay the bill that that's been abolished have you gotten any responses from those people we have not heard from them yet we just sent the letters out earlier this week and now we're

waiting to see how we give them information how to contact us our phone number email and we're waiting to see if we hear from them and when we do we'll let you know sounds good i know it's important to make is that medical debt is actually the leading cause for bankruptcy in the us sixty two percent of people have filed for bankruptcy have loads of outstanding medical debt was up by your group chose to focus on medical debt first. exactly you know like as you said two thirds of bankruptcies are caused by medical debt and another interesting fact is that most of those people had private health insurance at the time that they declared bankruptcy as a result of medical debt so this is not even really a question of people who don't have insurance this is a question of the private health insurance industry cannot provide people with the kind of health care that they really need so we decided to focus on medical debt because it really is one of the most odious forms of debt that we have a simply no reason for people to go into debt and for other people banks and hospitals to profit just because somebody gets sick and talk to me

a little bit about the process what was it like to go into the marketplace and to buy up this debt what was the process first of all and was the or movement accepted that you guys face any backlash we've been working on the wrong you believe the project of strike yet which is an offshoot of occupy wall street and this idea to buy a defaulted debt on the secondary debt market has been around an activist circles for quite some time i first heard about it over a year ago and several of us have been working on this campaign for many months we consulted with lawyers and people in the debt industry this took many many months to pull off and we had to develop relationships within the debt industry because you know it is it is we're not going to collect on the debt like debt buyers and debt collectors usually do so we had to sort of prove to the debt buyers and collectors that we're working with that we really were that we really were serious about purchasing the debt but we were also just a serious about not collecting on it so it did take several months of work to make this happen and what was that like working with the people that you were arguably

protesting against. right right yeah i mean it's definitely kind of using capitalism against itself i mean the secondary market is is very sleazy and there is a huge amount of profit to be made the debt collectors for example in new york city in a year period they made almost a billion dollars trying to collect these debts from people and most of the time they're trying to collect from the most the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society people who who don't have health insurance who don't have a job and who live in poor low income neighborhoods so so these really are these this is the scum of the earth that we're talking about definitely but i also want to point out that we shouldn't let wall street and the big banks off the hook because here's how it works wall street. gives the credit line to the consumer in the first place right and then the consumer can't pay the bill so that the big bank then writes off of the debt and they get a tax break so it's like a mini bailout for the bank and then they sell the debt to the secondary debt

market where these debt buyers and debt collectors operate but what also what's also true is that wall street banks many of them also own debt collection firms so really the big banks are very much at the center of this and they're winning every way they can stephanie a tangled web the we've let's talk about this i mean the rolling jubilee movement always said everybody that we've talked to says this isn't about solving the name of the nation's debt problems it's about moving the dialogue about this country forward do you think it's helped. absolutely i mean we're not going to purchased all the debt that was never the intention we wanted to start a conversation you know a lot of people feel a lot of shame about their debt whether it's medical debt or student debt or credit card debt that they made a mistake they should have gotten themselves into that situation and we believe that that's not true that actually debt is a system and debt is a trap and there all the different kinds of debt are connected so we're trying to change the shame we're trying to flip the script a little bit that the shame around debt is really on the side of the creditor and on people who give credit lines to consumers who don't have jobs and who can't pay

and who make money on things like sickness so we're trying to change the script a little bit about to get people to rethink this shame and that's actually working really well there are a lot of conversations happening online we get hundreds of e-mails hundreds of e-mails from people who want to share their story and who are so so grateful to have people to share their story with and they felt ashamed and isolated for a very long time and those people are starting to starting to emerge and starting to find each other and so we feel like there's a great potential there just for community a community of debtors that can join together to fight the debt system well and we're interested to see what you guys do with the rest of the money and we know that this was a national buy up so we'll see how you guys use the rest the money in the future and who's debt you choose to absolve that was an larson from the strike debt campaign we appreciate your time ma'am thanks megan all right that's going to do it for now for the news but for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america or check out our website or to.